Virginia
Gay school board member loses race for Va. House of Delegates
Special election called to fill vacant seat

Gay Fairfax County School Board member Karl V. Frisch finished second on Oct. 8 in a two-candidate race for the Democratic nomination for a special election to fill a vacant seat in the Virginia House of Delegates that includes parts of Fairfax County.
Frisch lost to public school teacher and community activist Holly Seibold at a Democratic Party caucus held in three locations on Saturday, Oct. 8, by a margin of 1,410 votes for Seibold to Frischās 1,143 votes, according to results released by the Fairfax Democratic Party.
Seibold will now run as the Democratic nominee in a Jan. 10 special election to fill the House of Delegates seat in the 35th District. The seat became vacant when Democratic incumbent Mark Keam resigned to take a position in the administration of President Joe Biden. The district includes the towns or cities of Dunn Loring, Oakton, Tysons, and Vienna.
āIām proud of the campaign we ran and grateful for all who volunteered, endorsed, contributed, and otherwise supported us,ā Frisch said in a statement. āLosing is always difficult ā especially when so many people invest their time, talent, and hard-earned money to support your cause,ā he said.
āThat said, losing is a little easier to digest when itās to someone as capable as Holly Seibold,ā said Frisch. āShe will be a great delegate. We have three months until the Special Election to fill Mark Keamās seat, and I will do whatever I can to help her succeed.ā
Frisch won election to the Fairfax County School Board in 2019 to represent the countyās Providence District, becoming the first openly LGBTQ person elected to a local office in Fairfax, which is Virginiaās largest county.
During his tenure on the school board Frisch has been an outspoken supporter of the rights of LGBTQ students, including transgender students at a time when Virginia Gov. Glenn Younkin (R) has proposed a controversial public school policy considered by activists to be hostile to trans students.
Virginia
Education Dept. probes pro-trans policies in Northern Virginia schools
Investigation targets schools in Arlington, Alexandria, Fairfax, Loudoun and Prince William County

The U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights is investigating five school districts in Northern Virginia for pro-trans policies that may violate provisions of Title IX and run afoul of President Donald Trump’s Jan. 29 executive order prohibiting federally funded educational institutions from promoting what his administration calls “gender ideology.”
The Hill reported news of the probe on Monday, citing a Feb. 12 letter from the agency to America First Legal, a conservative organization founded by White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, which indicated that an investigation had been opened into the Arlington, Alexandria, Fairfax, Loudoun and Prince William County school districts.
The letter comes in response to a complaint filed by America First Legal, which argued that “These school districts violate Title IX by maintaining policies that permit ‘gender
expansive and transgender students’ the ability to feel safe and comfortable by using
sex-segregated intimate facilities consistent with their ‘gender identity,’ while
denying similarly situated individuals, whose ‘gender identity’ is the same as their sex, the ability to feel safe and comfortable in the use of the sex-segregated common
restrooms and locker rooms of their sex.”
Per the Education Department’s letter, “the specific polices challenged by complainant are as follows: Alexandria City Public Schoolsā ‘Nondiscrimination in Education’ policy; Arlington County Public Schoolsā ‘Transgender Students in Schools’ policy; Fairfax County Public Schoolsā Regulation 2603.2; Loudoun County Public Schoolsā Policy 8040; Prince William Countyās Regulation 738-5.”
America First argues that the five policies constitute unlawful sex-based discrimination as defined under Title IX because the “only option” available to cisgender students in these school districts who “feel unsafe and uncomfortable” in these spaces is to use “a private restroom or an alternative that ‘minimize[s] the loss of instructional time.'”
The organization further argues that provisions in these policies that instruct educators and staff to use the names and pronouns chosen by their students violate a provision of Trump’s executive order prohibiting schools from helping to facilitate their “social” gender transitions.
Virginia
Va. House approves Ebbin resolution to repeal marriage amendment
Proposal passed with Republican support

The Virginia House of Delegates on Thursday approved gay state Sen. Adam Ebbin (D-Alexandria)’s resolution that seeks to repeal a state constitutional amendment that defines marriage as between a man and a woman.
The resolution passed by a 58-33 vote margin. State Del. Chris Obenshain (R-Montgomery County) is among the Republicans who supported it.
“Glad to report that SJ 249, my constitutional amendment to protect marriage equality, has passed the House of Delegates with bipartisan support,” said Ebbin after the vote.
The House last month approved a similar resolution that gay state Del. Mark Sickles (D-Fairfax County) introduced.
Voters approved the Marshall-Newman Amendment in 2006.
Same-sex couples have been able to legally marry in Virginia since 2014. Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin last year signed a bill that codified marriage equality in state law.
The General Assembly in 2021 approved a resolution that seeks to repeal the Marshall-Newman Amendment. It must pass in two successive legislatures before it can go to the ballot.
Virginia
Virginia High School League reverses policy on transgender athletes
Trans athletes previously allowed to compete on teams that corresponded with gender identity

The Virginia High School League on Monday announced it will no longer allow transgender athletes to compete on teams that correspond with their gender identity following another executive order signed by President Donald Trump targeting trans people.
The VHSL announced their policy change on their X account. It undoes a 2023 announcement that said it would not change their policy that allowed trans athletes to compete on teams that affirmed their identities.
Following a Jan. 28 executive order signed that stopped hospitals and other medical institutions from providing gender-affirming care to minors under that age of 19, Trump on Feb. 5 signed another executive order, “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports.”
The ban seeks āto rescind all funds from educational programs that deprive women and girls of fair athletic opportunities, which results in the endangerment, humiliation, and silencing of women and girls.ā The NCAA and many other educational institutions agreed to implement the ban in fear of losing federal funding.
“The VHSL is an association comprising 318 member schools with more than 177,000 students participating yearly in sports and academic activities. The VHSL is the governing body, and our member schools look to and rely on the VHSL for policy and guidance. To that end, the VHSL will comply with the executive order,” said VHSL Executive Director John W. “Billy” Haun. “The compliance will provide membership clear and consistent direction.”
The VHSL also said staff will be making changes to their handbook and policy manual in the coming days, reminiscent of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention scrubbing all of the papers in its database of any now-banned language regarding LGBTQ people and attacks on diversity, equity, and inclusion.
The VHSL’s own data indicates only 29 of the student athletes it oversees have been reported as trans since 2022.
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